After Angel
by ashy223
Summary: This just a continuation of what I think/want to happen after the latest Maximum Ride book, Angel. I also accidentally deleted this  sorry  so I'm posting it again.  : ENJOY!
1. All Alone

**Hey! Soo this is my first fanfic ever to be published online! I don't mind silent readers...'cause I do that all the time lol...but it would really be appreciated if I could get some feedback. I mean, of you want good writing, I'm not gonna learn from my mistakes if I'm not corrected! I enjoy and welcome constructive criticism, so please don't bash. I know the first chapter is a little boring but the action doesn't start off in the beginning! Hope you like it!**

**Disclamer: I do NOT own any of these characters! Everyone so far belongs to Robert Patterson! (:**

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><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

I heard the pitter-patter of the rain falling on the roof; it had started to drizzle. I watched as water slowly drenched the dry grass, quenching it of its thirst. I was sitting on the porch outside my mom's house in Arizona, basically just observing my surroundings. I was actually keeping half an eye out for dangers like another mutant robot out to kill me or something. See, that's the good thing about being chased all your life: even in your darkest hour, in your most depressing state, you never let your guard down. But right now, I was certain nothing was going to attack me randomly from the sky, so I was just observing the rain. I found myself absorbed in thoughts of water for some strange reason. How could water be so soothing and elegant, and yet so dangerous and deadly at the same time? We need water to survive, but it could take us out in less than a minute if set in motion. Seriously, you'd be crazy to actually have the time to think about this, but on the other hand, I think it's worth giving a thought or two about. I was still so remarkably entranced by this concept that I hadn't even noticed that someone had been calling my name.

I blinked once at the sound, and before I could register what was going on, two hands had clasped down on my shoulders. "Max!" they yelled. I cursed under my breath for not paying close enough attention to my surroundings. Reacting to my natural instincts, I grabbed their hand, stood up, and twisted it above my head, making them kneel down in front of me. I was just about to land my traditional round-house kick on them when I realized who it was. I let go.

"Jeez, you're a way better fighter than I thought you were," Dylan chuckled, standing up and massaging his shoulders. I rolled my eyes, sighed, and drifted back to my spot on the porch. I continued to watch the rain fall, realizing it had become a lot heavier now.

"Max..." Dylan said, now adopting a serious tone.

"What?" I asked my throat dry like sandpaper.

"It's two in the morning."

"Thanks for the update." I found it a good sign that I could still give smart-ass replies even when I was supposed to be depressed.

"What are you doing out here, Max? Everyone's asleep." he said.

"Watching the rain," I replied, "and keeping guard." I heard Dylan smirk at that.

He said, "You're not acting like yourself. You haven't been sleeping regularly and you've been skipping all your meals. All you ever do now is sit out here. Max, you won't even talk to anyone." That was true; everything he said was true, and I even found it shocking that I HAD been skipping munch hours. No one in the flock would ever pass up a decent meal.

When I didn't say anything, Dylan said, "Max, get inside. You're getting wet. We're worried about you; _I'm_worried about you." He sounded close to desperate.

I snorted. "Don't be. I'm fine."

"Max. Listen to me. You can't stay like this forever. The flock needs you. Your mom and Ella need you. We all need you, Max. You're the leader. What are we supposed to do if you're just gonna mope around all day?" Dylan persisted.

He was really starting to irritate me now. "I'm fine, Dylan. If you're so worried, why don't you run this circus?" I answered.

"Max, I'm being serious!" Dylan shouted suddenly.

"So am I." I said evenly, without looking at him.

"What?" he was startled.

I turned to face him, my eyes narrowing. "So am I, Dylan. Why is it me? Why do I have to save the world? 'Cause up until now, it really hasn't done me much good."

Dylan was taken aback, unsure of what to say. I smirked, satisfied that I had finally rendered him speechless. "Max..."

I sighed. "Dylan I'm just tired of this, okay? Why don't you just leave me alone, it will do us all good."

"Max, I _want_ to help you. If you'd tell me what's going on, th—"

"LEAVE! I told you, I'm fine! Just go away! Scram, I don't need you!" I finally snapped, not really caring if I had hurt his feelings.

I saw hurt register in his eyes but I turned away. I knew he would leave now; I had gone past my limits.

All of a sudden, faster then I could comprehend, Dylan was behind me. He grabbed my hand tightly and pulled me up.

"What are you doing?" Still holding my hand, he started to drag me into the house.

"Let—me—go!" I struggled to escape from his grasp, but it was useless. Even though I hadn't eaten right for weeks, I was still way stronger than the average human; but, then again, Dylan wasn't exactly human.

Not exactly to my surprise, Dylan didn't let go. In fact, in response, he grabbed my arm tighter and marched me up the stairs to my room. He whipped me inside, slammed the door behind him and then locked it. Then he finally let me go and turned to face me.

"What do you think you're doing?" I shrieked as softly as I could, worried that someone else in the house might hear.

He chuckled softly, sarcastically. "No Max, it's what do YOU think you're doing? You're the leader of this flock. You have a responsibility. You can't just ditch whenever you want."

I registered his words and realized he was right, once again. Of course, this only made me even angrier. "I'm not ditching. I think I'm doing a real fine job of running the flock anyway. Don't tell me my responsibilities, Dylan; I've been through a lot more than you're 1 year old mind could ever even imagine."

He flared. "Why are you doing this? You're the leader! Where's that leader Max that everyone knows? I always liked you for your determination to keep the pack together, and the fact that you try to stay strong for them!" He was raging now. I wished he would be a little quieter; Iggy had like super-sonic hearing after all.

I gave a little laugh. "Well isn't that a shame that you don't like me anymore? And you don't know me well enough to say that."

"Max!" he tousled his hair in irritation.

"Dylan. What do you want?" He stopped and looked up at me, a dark expression crossing his face.

I was taken aback. "What?" I asked, worried.

He slowly started to inch towards me, and I took a step back. He still started to walk silently towards me, though, and I started to become uneasy.

"Dylan, what are you doing?" I asked.

He didn't answer, just kept on striding towards me as I instinctively moved back. Okay, let me get one thing straight: Dylan is tall; like, really tall. I mean we all are, but he's almost as tall as Iggy! And trust me, when you have an angry, 6'2 boy who is extra strong and agitated than the average, the feeling isn't exactly pleasurable. And believe me when I tell you, now that he was creeping up towards me with an undoubtedly angry and strange look in his eyes, I got a little anxious.

"Dylan w-what are you doing?" I asked again. Still, he didn't answer, just continued to walk up, closer and closer to me. When we reached my bed, I plopped down and looked up at him.

"Dylan..."

He bent down over me, and placed his hands on either side of me on the bed, then leaned in closer and looked at me without saying a word. To my own embarrassment and guilt, I found myself staring into his beautiful turquoise eyes that reminded me so much of the Caribbean. For a long time, we just stayed like that, staring into each other's eyes, and the anger inside me slowly ebbed away as I sat tranquilized by his gorgeous eyes. Though I became a little calmer, I could literally feel the suspense building up and I waited patiently for what would come next. Dylan then quietly broke the silence.

"Is it Fang?" he whispered.

When he said that, it felt like I had been stabbed right in the chest. I snapped out of my trance and punched him, hard, right on his nose. I heard a sound like twigs snapping, only far more horrible, and I knew I had broken his nose. Following my punch, I kneed him right in the stomach, and elbowed him in the ribs. I would have gone for more, but he grabbed my hand to stop me from causing anymore damage to his fascinatingly flawless face; he had blood pouring from his nose. Against my will, I was forced to stop, weak as I was.

"So it is, isn't it?" he asked. "You're still thinking about him, even though he left you like that." he chuckled a sad, dry laugh. "I should have known. I should've—"

"How can you say that?" I hissed at him, most unlike me. "How can you say that when my baby isn't here? How can you say I'm thinking about Fang when Angel's dead?" I spat at him, close to tears.

Dylan's features softened, and he cast his eyes down, looking ashamed and embarrassed.

I sighed and stalked to the door. Before I could open it, Dylan stopped me. "Max...Max, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean that. It's just...the last time, you were like that too. I'm sorry I just didn't want you to be troubled. I want you to be happy. I'm sorry, Max." he sounded sincere.

"Yeah, well, stuff your sorry in a sack, I'm out." I said, and just like that I raced out of the room and down the stairs. Dylan followed me, right on my heels.

"Where are you going?" he shouted from behind me. I'm sure someone in the house probably heard us by now, but hopefully not. The last thing I needed was my mom questioning me the next morning about my feelings. I _hate_ talking about emotions.

I fled to the balcony and was about to make my ever-dramatic exit of flying out, forgetting that it was raining cats and dogs outside, but Dylan's caught me just in time and stopped from taking off.

"Look Max, I'm sorry and I know that you're going through a hard time right now but you're not the only one. People are relying on you. The flock looks up to you, for you to tell them what to do. I look up to you Max. We need you." he said. For some reason, that made me mad too. Why does he have the right to stand here and lecture me? I knew he was right, but that didn't mean I wanted to hear it.

"Alright Dylan, thanks for the speech. You should take up preaching, by the way, you're good at it. Now, if you don't mind, could you scurry on back inside now?" I said coldly.

"MAX! Is this some sort of game to you? You know you're supposed to save the world, right? The whole world rests on your shoulders and you're just sitting here on your lazy butt moping about the past and staring at the rain. You're supposed to be a leader." He didn't bother even attempting to be nice this time.

"Well, it's good to know that I'm responsible for the world's survival. Thanks. That made me feel loads better." Dylan looked like he wanted to punch me.

"Max—!"

"Ooh, better not touch me, hot shot. If I die, the world dies, remember? Gotta keep me safe now, don't you?" I commented, oozing sarcasm, my mouth twisting into a cruel grin.

Dylan was angrier than I'd ever seen him. Even in the dark, it was as if I could literally see angry heat waves rising from him and steam coming out of his ears. His whole aura had changed, making the atmosphere deadly cold. I can't say I wasn't a little intimidated. I knew he was fighting the urge to knock me in the face, but after a long time, he finally only suppressed a sigh.

When he spoke again a couple minutes later, the atmosphere was back to normal and he had calmed down. The house was quiet.

All he said was, "Whatever, Max." And then, he went back inside the house, leaving me alone in the pouring rain.

I felt a sudden dread that I couldn't explain and I found myself more miserable than even before our little quarrel.

Why is my life so twisted? Why couldn't I just be a normal teenager? I thought and then I laughed bitterly. Normal life? Me?

"Ha, keep dreaming, Max." I muttered under my breath.

But when Dylan had left it stabbed at my heart, which really annoyed me, 'cause I shouldn't care what Dylan thinks. Then I realized that he wasn't the problem; well, not JUST him.

_People enjoy abandoning me, don't they?_ I thought, because it was true. And that was the problem: everyone who I had loved had left me. They'd left me all alone, all by myself.

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><p><strong>YAY! I just finished my first chapter. Really hope you guys like it and please do give feedback. I'd also like to give credit to:<strong>

**SPYforYOU**

**for editing my fanfic! she rocks! :P**


	2. I Can See Red!

**Hey hey hey! So here I am with my second chapter of 'After Angel', a pathetic title, I know, but I'm not very creative when it comes to story titles. Anyway, this chapter is not very interesting in my perspective but necessary so bear with it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Max or any other characters (as much as I wish I owned Fang)! Maximum Ride belongs to **_**James**_** Patterson! (Thank you for pointing that out to me! I made a mistake with his name in the first chapter (I know, I'm a dunce), but I have no idea how to fix it! James Patterson, not Robert Patterson lol :D**

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><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

The ground shook violently beneath me. It was so sudden. One moment I was at a picnic on a bright sunny day, sleeping away on someone's lap, and the next moment the earth trembled unsympathetically below my feet. I tried to stand up but was knocked to the ground, scraping my knee in the process. Far away in the distance I could hear my name being called.

"Max! Maaax!"

The voice was so familiar. What the heck was going on? Where was I? Wait...wait a second...

I woke up to see a beaming Nudge down at me and desperately shaking me to arouse me.

"I'm up, I'm up!" I shouted, pushing her away and sitting up.

"Max! Max guess what?" she squealed.

I groaned and groggily rubbed my eyes. "What?" I asked.

"Iggy!" she said happily.

"What? What about Iggy?"

"Iggy! He just saw another color! He can see red!" she was positively beaming, nearly out of breath in excitement.

"What?" I questioned stupidly, shocked from the sudden remark.

"Max, he can see red!" she was grabbing my hand now, pulling me inside the house (I had fallen asleep outside on the porch chair), towards Iggy and the others.

"No way!" I smiled for the first time in weeks. She just laughed and dragged me along faster. My mom, my half sister Ella, and the rest of the flock were all crowded in the living room, all of them watching Iggy anxiously. Gazzy was waving a red pillow an inch away from Iggy's face.

"Gaz, don't stuff it in my face, I won't be able to see anything if you do that!" Iggy complained and pushed the pillow away.

"Sorry." Gazzy mumbled and held it at a farther length.

"I can see it! Yeah, I can see it! Gaz, go find something else red!" Iggy told him eagerly.

I let out a quiet chuckle. "Maybe when you look in the mirror you can see your hair now, Ig." I told him.

Iggy looked in my direction. "Glad to see you're awake, sleeping beauty." he made a face at me but then stopped mid-way. "Actually, that's not a bad idea. Cool Max!" he said as he ran inside the bathroom to check his reflection.

Everyone laughed and I was starting to feel a whole lot better, until I saw Dylan. The events from the night before flooded back into my head and my smile was quickly wiped off, replaced by a frown.

"You fell asleep outside, Max." my mom, Dr. Martinez, approached me.

"Um. Yeah."

She laughed lightly. "What were you doing out there?" she asked and I was sure, now, that she'd heard the quarrel I had with Dylan yesterday.

"Just, uh, you know. I felt stuffy." I replied lamely. My mom gave me a worried look and was about to reply when Iggy came rushing back into the living room.

"I can just see it! I can see my hair!" Iggy screamed excitedly.

"Sweet man." Gazzy said and gave him a high-five. I smiled to myself, glad that my mom had dropped the topic, at least for now.

"Who wants breakfast? I can fix up some scrambled eggs and French toast in a half hour. Who's up for it?" my mom asked the flock. Obviously, she got no refusals, including from me. I was in a way better mood then I'd ever been in a while and it had been forever since I'd last eaten anything good.

Before we could eat breakfast, Iggy insisted that we all wear red so he could see where each of us were. I told him he could hear us like he'd done more than half his life, but he still persisted and we finally let in.

Although I didn't say a word and just ate to my heart's content, all throughout breakfast, I was still aware of Dylan's gaze boring into me. I knew he was looking for the right chance to talk to me but I was in no mood for another argument so I did my best not to look his way or go near him. I saw Iggy squirt ketchup in his scrambled eggs and I smiled to myself; I was glad Iggy was slowly starting to see different colors. His first color was white, now it was red. I wondered what color he would see next.

"Iggy, we should try experimenting what you'll be able to see while we're flying!" Gazzy said after we'd all had our stomachs filled.

"Ooh yeah! We can see how well you can spot red from a distance." Nudge said.

"Alright, sounds good," Iggy commented. "Who's up for it?" he looked at my dull red T-shirt.

Dylan was still watching me curiously, unblinkingly. "Sure, why not?" I said.

"I'll go too." Dylan said. I glared at him. My mom made us change out of red first, afraid that we might be spotted. I don't know what I would do without her.

600 feet off the ground, Iggy could still spot my mom's red Honda Civic; Gazzy urged Iggy to go up higher to test his sight further.

Now we were 300 yards above ground.

"I can still see it as bright as day." Iggy said.

"I can just make it out," Nudge pouted. "how can you see it so clearly?" So here's the deal: not only can Iggy see certain colors at times, when he sees them, he has way better sight than anyone. I mean our eyesight's are already super enhanced but Iggy's was beyond that. It was even better than Dylan's supersonic vision. We had no idea why, but that's the way it worked.

Iggy zoomed around from place to place, muttering every so often that he could make out something red. After a while, I told the flock that we should probably get back and we did, except for Iggy who decided to stay out a bit longer.

It was dinner time by the time Iggy returned.

"Ig, you gave everyone a heart attack. We were just about to send out a search party for you. What took you so long? Ella was worried." I said sarcastically to him with a wink. I may not be a genius on relationships and I'm definitely no love doctor, but even I could tell there was something brewing up between Iggy and my sister. Iggy turned bright red when I said that.

"Hey, Ig, you should go take a look at yourself in the mirror now, you'll be able to see your face." Gazzy said innocently which only caused Iggy to turn a brighter shade of red. We both cracked up.

My mom said it would be a while till dinner was ready so I decided to just chill in the living room. I was tired and since there was no one there I thought I might as well catch another 30 minutes of sleep. Of course, I wasn't even allowed that luxury.

"Hey." Dylan approached me out of nowhere.

I grimaced and ignored him, walked over to the sofa and lay down to take a nap. He followed me and bent down to look at me, making his head level with mine.

"Hey." he repeated, his breath ticking my face.

I sat up. "Hi." I said flatly.

"Let's have a little talk, shall we?" he said.

"We're talking right now."

"I mean outside. Let's go out for a spin." he said and a chill went down my spine. He obviously meant going for a short flight outside, but the situation seemed so familiar. My insides turned when I remembered that was exactly what Fang had said to me one night a long time ago. We had landed somewhere near a dock and then he had...he had...kissed me—

"No." I said bluntly and lay down again.

He yanked me up. "Max, I'm sorry about last night. Come on, I need to talk to you." he pulled me up and started dragging me to the porch. I roughly snatched my hand away.

"I don't care, Dylan. I'm done talking." I said, fixing him with a cold stare. Dylan's shoulders slumped and I knew I had been too harsh.

"Hey, I'm sorry, OK? I wasn't thinking properly and I was worried about you." he tried.

I wasn't in any mood to talk about this now. "Hmm I'm hungry, are you hungry? We should go get ready for dinner! Bye!" I said urgently, changing the topic, and quickly started to trot away from him.

"Maax." Dylan nearly whined and put out a hand to stop me from going anywhere. I pushed it down and kept walking. I knew it would be a long way till he'd give up again, but this time, I wasn't willing to wait that long.

When he ran up and grabbed my wrist, I twisted out of his hold, grabbed _his_ wrist and wrenched him down hard.

"Oww!" he yelped.

"I am not in the mood, Dylan. Don't mess with me today or else you _will_ regret it." I threatened. He nodded painfully and I let go.

I was almost done eating dinner when I heard the _DING-DONG_ of the doorbell.

"Who's that?" Nudge asked with her mouth full of spaghetti.

I exchanged a worried look with my mom; who could that be at this time of night? After a quick nod from me, she slowly made her way to the front door as I assembled my flock out of visual perception of the front door.

"We better lay low," I said, ushering them into another room, "best to stay out of sight. We don't know who they are."

When my mom opened the door, the visitor from outside stomped right in. I tensed.

"Valencia! Wher—where are the kids?" Jeb asked, out of breath; he had obviously been running here.

"J-Jeb? What's going on?" my mom asked him.

"Where are they, Val? They're here, aren't they?" Jeb asked my mom hurriedly. Something was wrong—i could tell from his tone of voice—and it involved us.

I stepped out and into view of my mom and Jeb. "What's going on?"

"Max! Oh, Max! Thank god you're alright." he ran up to me and wrapped me in a warm embrace which I did not return.

"What's going on?" I asked stiffly.

"You're-you're not going to like this. We don't have much time. Where's everyone else?" he asked me.

The rest of the flock stepped out. "Why, what's wrong?" Iggy asked Jeb.

"I'll explain everything soon. But we have to go now. We have to get out of here quick." he said and started to pull me to the front door.

I wrenched my arm away from him. "I'm not going anywhere until I know what's going on." I told him.

"Max, this is no time to argue. I'll explain everything on the jet but we really need to go now." he said desperately and tried again to drag me out of the house. I didn't budge.

"Jet?" Ella asked. "Why a jet?"

"Because we need to get out of here fast!" Jeb complained.

"What's going on?" Dylan asked Jeb the same question for the tenth time.

Jeb let out an exasperated sigh. "Alright, but promise me you'll all come with me after I tell you." he said.

I shrugged. "Depends."

He gave another frustrated sigh. "No Max, you really have to come. You can't do your own thing this time. You can't stay and figh—"

"Get to the point." I cut him off.

Jeb's shoulders sagged as he let out a third depressing sigh. His figure dropped a couple inches and his face contorted into emotional pain.

"They're back." he said, "The Erasers are back."

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><p><strong>Hehehe, yes, I am bringing back the Erasers! But don't worry, they won't be the boring old ones...ha ha ha<strong>

**Coool so that's my second chapter. I know it is extremely boring...I apologize..but the fact that Iggy can see red will be somewhat of importance later on. So just don't forget about it. And I have a huge surprise in the next chapter for all of you! :D Stay tuned! Please comment, I still need feedback...and subscribe! Cool, thanks! (:**

**OOHHHH I almost forgot! People, check out my other story, 'Secrets Untold'. It has nothing to do with Maximum Ride but I seriously need feedback on it. PLEEAASE check it out! :(**


	3. One More to the Gang

**H****ey again! Thanks to all those who subscribed but I need feedback more...constructive feedback. I apologize for the late update, but I've been busy vacationing and whatnot ;). Anyway, to make up for it, I posted a pretty long chapter and the surprise that I promised! (look at who's POV it's in!) Enjoy!**

_**Disclaimer:**_** I do not own Maximum Ride, all that belongs to J.P. But I _DO _own my new character! ;D**

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><p><em><strong>Fang's POV<strong>_

It was well past 1:00 AM and Hypnos still didn't have me trapped in his mystic resting chamber. I decided that I might as well check out my blog since I couldn't fall asleep anyway. I flipped open my super technologically-enhanced computer and brought up my bookmarked blog. In just four days—the last time I had checked the blog—I already had over 15,000 new bloggers blogging to me.

_"Hey Fang, I think I have super spit. I can spit a huge blob really really far. Can I be part of your mutant group too?"_ **~superspit334**

I sighed. Honestly, these people had no idea what they were dealing with.

_"HEEY FANG! I just wanted 2 let u know that if ur anywhere near NYC then hmu! Ill be more than happy 2 let u stay with me 4 a while! ;D"_ **~melissaXfang178**

I shook my head. People had to learn that no way was I about to reveal my location—which wasn't anywhere near New York, by the way—and take shelter with a random stranger. It was nice for them to think about us, though.

_"I heard you n max split up again. must be tough man...hope youre doin aight..."_ **~shaqlover4562**

My insides turned at the mention of Max. I couldn't bear to think about her; it hurt too much. And especially thinking about her with Dylan made my blood boil like crazy, but I had left her so I couldn't complain. I sighed and shook my head again to get the thought of Max out of my head.

I continued to look at the comments of my bloggers for another two hours and I wasn't even half-way done.

"Wow. Your blog really is a hit, they weren't kidding." a voice said behind me. A shiver ran down my spine.

"Yeah, people usually like it when their world-savers are out there getting their butt whooped for them." I replied quietly.

Maya smiled. I looked away. She looked, talked, and acted way too much like Max that it pained me every time I looked at her, too. But I had needed her, so I had had no other choice. Of course, although Maya was Max's clone, she had her differences; she wasn't the same person.

"Can't sleep?" she asked me.

"Obviously."

She chuckled and I shuddered. Dang it, she laughed just like her too.

"How long have you been up?" Maya asked. I looked at the time on the computer screen: 3:52 AM it read. I hadn't even noticed that I'd been up for so long.

"Couple hours," I replied.

"You should get some sleep. I'll keep watch." she said, though I couldn't imagine what she would be keeping watch for.

I sighed and nodded. "Alright."

I put my computer away and lay down to get some rest. This time, sleep immediately overwhelmed me and I dozed off.

**/_-_-_\**

It was a clear bright sunny day when I finally woke up. The scents and essences of the unique culture wafted into my nose. I could literally taste the heavenly chickens as their smells made their way towards us. I opened one eye to see why I was waking up to such luxuries, only to see an excited Star looking down at me.

"Oh good, you're awake," she said, "here, grab some grub, you'll need it." Star handed me a napkin with the rich and fatty chicken on it; my mouth watered.

"Where'd you get this?" I asked. She made no attempt to answer but just pointed at the chicken stand as she licked the oily chicken fat off her fingers.

"We don't have any money." I said. She shrugged.

I sighed. "We can't be stealing food, Star."

"Wasn't my idea." she replied and I raised a questioning eyebrow at her. She pointed at Ratchet and I let out a soft groan.

Ratchet's been trying to take over my gang ever since the Doomsday bash. He saved a few lives and now he thinks he's like the biggest hero ever or something. Anyway, he jumps at every opportunity he gets to take charge of the flock, and to be honest, it's starting to get really irritating. I have to cope with him, though, with all of them, actually, since I don't know if I could do it without them. We only have 6 people as it is. It was just me, Maya, Star, Ratchet, Kate, and Holden Squibb. I couldn't afford to lose or ditch any of them, so I just had to deal with Ratchet's smart-ass attitude—for now.

I got up from the ground and dusted myself off—napkin of chicken still in hand—and made my way over to Ratchet.

"We can't be stealing, man." I said to his back and he turned around at my voice.

He shrugged. "Were you just going to let us starve, man? We've eaten barely anything in two days."

I shook my head. "Still. It's wrong and we can't afford to do it again." I told him.

Ratchet laughed in response. "Look, man, I'm not gonna starve. And if it comes down to stealing, then so be it. Why do I need to worry about them?" He gestured towards the busy streets that were full of people.

I could feel a brawl building up, and right now, that was the last thing I needed. Besides, I wasn't in any mood to fight with the punk, so I just sighed and said, "Whatever, man. There's other ways to get food too, though."

Ratchet just rolled his eyes and turned away. I didn't know how much longer I was going to be able to keep him in this flock without ripping his guts out; he was really getting on my nerves.

**/_-_-_\**

It happened around mid-day. Just after 12:30. My flock and I were walking along the crowded streets of B—oh wait, I'm not giving away our location quite yet—when all of a sudden, this guy disappeared right before our very eyes.

I blinked, thinking that I had just imagined it, but no, the very next second, he reappeared, acting as if nothing had happened. I looked to my flock to make sure I wasn't going senile, and the look on their faces, thankfully, confirmed my sanity. Kate looked at me and grinned; without asking, I knew what she was thinking, what _I_ was thinking. We decided to approach the guy.

"Hey," I said, walking up to him. He just looked at me.

"Ni hao," I tried, since that was the spoken language in the country.

"'Sup?" he asked me.

I heard Holden grunt at his easy reply in English when I had gone through the trouble to acknowledge him in the country's native language, though it clearly wasn't his. Something about the way he'd replied, though, threw me off; his blunt manner seemed awfully familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I cleared my throat to hide my annoyance. "Uh, so do you have a minute?" I asked.

"What for?" he asked indifferently but I noticed that he was looking around ever so slightly for something, someone.

"We just had to ask you something." I replied.

He raised an eyebrow at me. This guy carried himself well; he was evidently someone that people would look up to. He was tall—maybe my height—he had dark hair and dark green eyes with light tannish skin. He wore a black shirt and black jeans. He was good-looking, too, someone most girls would probably fall for. He actually looked a lot like me.

"Maybe you're not as sly as you think?" I said quietly.

His eyes widened a fraction but he tried to play it off. "I don't know what you're talking about." he said.

"Don't you?"

"I don't think I'm sly." he mumbled and I actually smiled a little.

"Maybe if I convinced you that you could trust us..." I started.

He narrowed his eyes. "I don't trust anyone." he said icily.

"And why is that?" I retorted just as coldly, taken aback from his sudden mood change.

"Just-just 'cause." he scoffed.

I sighed and nodded to my gang. They nodded back and Star and Ratchet grabbed both of his arms.

"Let me go!" He spat, struggling to break free, but Star and Ratchet had their grip on him. Then, all of a sudden, he had punched Ratchet across the face, pulled away from their hold, and taken off in the opposite direction.

"W-what the hell?" I shouted, shocked.

I didn't have to order my gang to go after him; they were already on his heels, but dang was he fast. We had to chase him down three blocks before I sped up and caught him. He tried to punch me in the face but I grabbed his hand and forced it down.

"What do you want?" he whispered at me, his voice desperate.

"I told you," I hissed, "We just want to talk."

He stopped struggling. He stood up and again just looked at me. Then, before I knew what was going on, he was no longer in my grasp. One second the fabric of his clothes was wrapped around my fingers and the next I was clutching thin air.

"Damn it." I cussed as I saw him reappear 2 yards to the right of where he had been just a moment before. He gave me a sly grin and disappeared again. This time he reappeared 10 yards away with the same cunning smile on his face.

I groaned. I knew I had underestimated this guy.

"Star?" I asked, looking at her.

She nodded and sped off. That threw him off. His eyes widened at Star's mutant ability of super speed. In seconds she had zoomed towards him, grabbed his arm, and dragged him back in front of me.

"Convinced?" I asked.

He gave me a deathly glare and tried again to escape Star's grasp but Kate and I both held him and he finally stopped moving.

"Who sent you?" he asked me quietly.

I sighed. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. We're not after you." I said; he didn't look at all convinced.

"At least hear us out?"

He just looked at me. For a whole minute he just looked me in the eyes and I got a feeling of uneasiness. I'm not sure why, but when I was around him, it felt strange. No one could ever unhinge me like he did just then, and it wasn't something I liked.

"Who are you?" he finally asked.

I gave him a wry smile. "I'm Fang. You?"

"Seven." he replied after a slight hesitation.

"Seven? Like the number seven?" Ratchet asked.

"No, like the letter seven." he muttered and I smirked at Ratchet's blank face.

"I'm Kate!" Kate said, still clutching him from escaping. He just nodded at her and the rest of my gang introduced themselves.

"So mind coming with us for a while?" I asked him after all the introductions were over.

"Alright." he said after thinking about it for a while.

I led him down six blocks before turning into a small broken-down house in a narrow dark alleyway. The abandoned alley had many unused and broken cars and other vehicles that maybe might come in handy. Seven raised his eyebrows at me when I motioned for him to enter the alley but he finally seemed to trust in me that I wasn't planning to ambush him—at least not right then, anyway.

"Alright, so who are you running from?" I asked him when we were concealed in the dark.

Seven shook his head 'no'. "I want some questions answered first." he said.

"Fair enough," I smirked, "What do you want to know?"

"Who is she?" he asked nodding his head in Star's direction. "She's super fast."

"I'm Star," Star answered for herself, "And yeah, I'm super fast. What about it?"

"Why?"

"Why?" I scoffed. "What about you? You've got some tricks yourself. Explain that to us."

"Do all of you have powers?" he asked, ignoring my question.

"Yeah, we're Beijing's typical freak group." I muttered, annoyed (Okay, so maybe I am going to reveal our location. Doesn't matter, we relocate often, anyway.).

Seven recoiled at my use of 'freak'; he obviously didn't like being called that either.

"So then, what's your power?" he asked, looking at me.

"Me? I have wings. I can fly. Cool, right?"

He gave me a look and I knew what he wanted me to do. I sighed and unfurled my wings from behind my back, but I had to turn sideways so the full length of my 16-foot wing span could fit in the alley.

As soon as my huge dark wings were in full view, I received a gasp from everyone around me. I may be a freak, but my 16-foot black wings were to die for. Darker than the color of obsidian, yet softer than satin sheets. It was as if their darkness overwhelmed me, making me a dark angel. Standing there, I looked like a giant black leopard with wings and I gained an aura of ultimate power. When my wings were outstretched, it made me the king, the one in charge; I was unchallengeable.

They were all admiring me with utmost interest, because although my gang has seen my wings before, they've never been able to observe it up so close. I even caught Seven gawking at my magnificent, gleaming black wings before he stopped himself when he saw me smirking at him. I quickly tucked them away after a few minutes because there was hardly any space for them in the narrow alleyway.

"Believe me now?"

"C-can you really fly with those?" he asked, still mystified.

"Obviously," I sneered, "Did you think they just glued that on me for show?"

Immediately I regretted saying that when I saw something change in his eyes.

"They?" he asked carefully.

I cleared my throat and gestured for the rest of my gang to share their powers. I purposely left out my trick of being able to disguise myself into my surroundings if I sat still, but even my gang didn't know that. Seven already knew about Star's super speed and Kate demonstrated her increased strength capabilities by lifting up a nearby car by herself, which—I have to admit—was really cool. When Holden cut off his arm right above the elbow, I heard Ratchet laugh at Seven's flabbergasted face, and I couldn't help smiling either when I saw his eyes grow even larger when Holden's arm started to grow back. Holden can regenerate limbs, like a starfish, so it doesn't matter to him whether he loses any limbs or not.

"Not bad for a kid," Seven muttered and I grimaced. Holden's power was really unique and useful, but he looked like a 10 year old kid even though he was around 15. We had teased him about it at first, too, but he was a part of the gang, and besides, he'd been through a hell of a lot with white coats; he didn't deserve to be teased.

"I can't exactly demonstrate my power," Ratchet said, pulling me out of my thoughts, "but I wouldn't be here if I wasn't a mutant, right? I have super enhanced senses; I can see, hear, and smell farther than anyone else you've ever met. That's why I wear these—" he said, and motioned to his sunglasses and headphones. "—it can get really distracting at times."

Seven nodded, obviously believing Ratchet's statements.

Maya came next, and she too exposed her broad, beautiful wings. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Seven eyeing Maya, and for some reason, that really irritated me.

"So," I said, "What is your power?"

Seven nodded again and stood up. This time again, he moved from 10 feet away to barely inches away from me. "Teleportation." he said simply.

I nodded. "And who is it you were running away from?" I asked. He flinched.

"People are after me. I'm not exactly sure who, but they know about my mutant tricks and they want to capture me. I don't know what they want to do with me, but I know it involves my power." he spoke rapidly and quietly, almost as if it hurt to say so. But what he had said had made me anxious as well.

"Do you know what they look like? The people after you?" I asked, thinking about the white coats.

"I'm not sure. They just dress like normal people but I can feel them watching me. They've followed me into 3 countries now."

I raised an eyebrow. "Exactly how far can you teleport?"

Seven shrugged. "I haven't really put it to the test yet, but like I said, I can teleport into other countries. I teleported from India to here."

I was pretty stupefied. Seven's power was incredible, as well as really useful. He could escape basically anything if he wanted to.

"In that case, I'm guessing you would like some help with keeping away from these people, right? Someone to watch your back?" I asked. He didn't say anything.

I sighed. "Look, we're running away from people, too. The people that are after you could very possibly be the same people after us. I think it's best to stick together. We're always looking for new recruits, anyway." I said with a sly grin.

That got Seven's attention. That we were running away too. I could tell from his facial expressions that he was interested, and also that he was considering my proposal. I let him think about it for about 5 minutes before I invaded his thoughts.

"Uh, so, what do you say? Do you want to come with us?"

He looked at me, and finally, he let in. "Alright," he said, "I'll go with you." I could see the rest of the flock talking excitedly; they obviously liked him.

"Well then, welcome to the gang, Seven." I said with a grin.

* * *

><p><strong>Haha! So yes, my new character is Seven, and as you can see, he's freaking epic! I couldn't think of a name for him, and since I'm not very creative, his name is a number. I am going to apologize beforehand if I had any mistakes I made with the plot...I am not a good writer and I don't exactly check up with my facts to make them precise...sorry. (I know Fang's wingspan is 14 feet, but I wanted to make him more awesome then he already is). One last thing...honestly people, if you don't check out my other fanfic <em>Secrets Untold<em> (which I also updated), I won't update here so often. Please check it out. ;( COOL SHANKS BYE (:**


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